Tag: Alicia Keys

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May 7, 2016 – Brie Larson / Alicia Keys (S41 E19)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

CHURCH CHAT
Church Lady queries Ted Cruz (TAK) & Donald Trump (DAH)

 

— A Church Chat cold opening out of nowhere! Awesome.
— Some pretty funny comments from Church Lady in the segment with her snarking on celebrities’ attire at the then-recent Met Gala Ball.
— Dana Carvey’s still got his knack for playing off of the audience in his ad-libs, with his “Too soon?” ad-lib after the audience’s slightly-tepid reaction to his joke about Jay-Z’s “naughty parts”.
— The final appearance of Taran’s weak Ted Cruz impression, which will definitely not be missed by me.
— Ugh, there’s that annoying exaggerated “funny” laugh that Taran always does as Cruz, which never fails to come off to me like Taran’s trying way too hard to be funny. That laugh is particularly bad tonight, though that may be SNL’s way of intentionally foreshadowing a certain transformation Taran’s Cruz will go through later in this cold opening.
— Kinda interesting how this is actually the second time someone played Donald Trump as a guest on Church Chat. (Phil Hartman being the first to do that.)
— Hmm, I had no memory of Vanessa ever playing Ivanka Trump.
— After all of my negative comments about Taran in this cold opening (me criticizing Taran used to be almost unheard of in his previous seasons, which shows how downhill he’s gone this season), I do really like the turn with his Cruz re-entering this cold opening as a demon, complete with SNL using a vocal modifier to give him a demonic voice. Taran’s always good at playing this type of role.
— Jon playing a typical Jon Rudnitsky role, I see.
— When this originally aired, I remember the fact that Taran got the special honor of delivering a LFNY with Dana as Church Lady, coupled with the fact that Taran was previously also the only current cast member who got to play one of the four main Bill Brasky guys when the Brasky sketch was revived in Paul Rudd’s season 39 hosting stint, made me assume that SNL must feel very highly of Taran. Little did I know that, just a few months later, Taran would end up getting fired. I now look back at the special honor he got of delivering a LFNY with Church Lady as one of the last (if not THE last) big moments he ever got on SNL.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
on Mother’s Day eve, host, PED, KAM set up jokes by their moms [real]

— Pretty funny appearance from Beck.
— This is turning into Part 2 of the preceding season’s Reese Witherspoon monologue, only nowhere near as strong, and much more sloppy and rushed. This is still decent enough, though.
STARS: ***


PRESIDENT BARBIE
girls’ disinterest in President Barbie echoes Democratic nomination race

— I almost thought at first that this was a rerun of the Asian American Doll commercial from the preceding season.
— Now that the premise of this new commercial has been revealed, this does feel like an intentional companion piece to Asian American Doll.
— A good laugh from one of the little girls reacting to the President Barbie doll by saying a flat “Oh. Neat.”, and then immediately putting the doll down and moving onto something else.
— Cecily as the professional voice-over, in response to something one of the little girls said: “(mocking voice) I like Legos! (normal voice) That’s what you sound like.”
— Lots of other funny sarcastic quips that Cecily has to the little girls.
— While I feel this definitely doesn’t measure up to Asian American Doll, this is still pretty solid on its own merits and has good satire.
STARS: ****


NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE
Ms. Rafferty’s near-death experience suffered from inept guardian angel

— This sketch has officially become recurring…very needlessly, at that. They’ll never match the classic first installment of this sketch, which should’ve remained a one-off.
— I’m currently a little over two minutes into this, and, yeah, everything in it is just a very inferior rehash of the first installment (right down to having Kate say “Donald Ducking it” this time instead of “Porky Pigging it”). Inferior follow-ups/variations is apparently going to be a theme in tonight’s episode (e.g. President Barbie not being quite as strong as Asian American Doll, the Mother’s Day monologue being kind of a half-assed version of the Reese Witherspoon one, and even the Church Chat sketch, while fun, wasn’t as strong as usual).
— Kate is at least still getting SOME laughs from me with her performance, as well as when, in regards to her story about a bunch of dogs sniffing “her drainer and her stainer”, she says “Look, at least SOMEBODY’S interested.”
STARS: **


BABY SHOWER
fellow moms at (host)’s baby shower welcome her to haircut sisterhood

— Good to see the perpetually-underused Sasheer getting a pretty good amount of lines and screen time here, which makes sense, as I recall hearing that she co-wrote this sketch (as well as the sequel/variation that appears the following Mother’s Day, in a Melissa McCarthy-hosted episode). I think I heard that Julio Torres was one of the co-writers of this, and that this was one of the very first things he ever wrote for SNL, but I’m not 100% sure.
— A solid premise, and great execution. If Julio Torres indeed co-wrote this, then this is an early sign of many great things to come from him over the next few seasons.
— Particularly strong delivery from Vanessa when disclosing how she received her calling to get “the cut”.
— A very good mock-dramatic, thriller-y turn with Brie Larson slowly and uncontrollably succumbing to motherly traits.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “In Common”


WEEKEND UPDATE
guest anchor Laura Parsons applies innocent delivery to serious subjects

SAZ discusses the use of the N-word by Larry Wilmore & others

PED is embarrassed when his mom [real] defends him on Twitter

— A solid breakdown from Colin and Michael of the infamous “Donald Trump eating a taco bowl” photo.
— Notably, Colin makes a prediction that Trump will win the presidency, and gives some interesting reasons for why.
— Trump talk has been absolutely dominating tonight’s Update so far (understandably so), with even Vanessa’s Laura Parsons commentary starting off with her talking about him.
— As usual in Laura Parson’s commentaries, there’s a lot of good laughs from her delivering disturbing, kid-unfriendly stories in her typical upbeat, child actor-y delivery, and some funny subversions with her initially making it seem like she doesn’t know what the stories mean, only for her to reveal she does.
— Tonight’s Laura Parsons commentary ends with Michael panickedly cutting her off when she segues into her next news story by saying “Speaking of smelly fingers…”. Was the “smelly fingers” thing a reference to a particular news story from that week?
— Wow, not only did a sketch that Sasheer co-wrote and co-starred in get on the air earlier tonight, but now she even gets her own Update commentary.
— Sasheer is oddly giggly throughout this commentary. Normally, that wouldn’t be too much of a hindrance in an Update commentary that someone is doing as themselves, but something about Sasheer’s giggling here seems very awkward and inauthentic, like she’s fake-laughing to hide her possible nervousness.
— And now, in addition to her strange, seemingly unnatural giggliness, Sasheer is ad-libbing lots of odd asides and making lots of awkward long pauses throughout this commentary, as if she’s trying too hard to milk extra laughs from the audience. What’s going on here? I sense a huge lack of confidence from her in this, and it’s ruining her commentary for me. Has her lack of airtime this season crushed her spirit THAT much by this point? She previously did an Update commentary as herself the preceding season, and came off much more confident, smooth, and comfortable than she is in tonight’s commentary.
— Well, Sasheer’s commentary at least ends in a very noteworthy fashion, with her saying the N-word.
— Ah, Sasheer mentions it’s her birthday. I wonder if that’s the reason why she’s been getting more airtime than usual tonight. If so, I really wish this Update commentary went better for her. I’m sure she’s fully aware of how badly it went.
— When this episode originally aired, given the fact that this was the third-to-last episode of the season, I assumed at the time that, with this badly-executed Update commentary of hers, Sasheer completely blew her last chance to save herself and be asked back to SNL the following season. As we know now, she surprisingly ended up being brought back that season anyway.
— I like Pete’s dig at how some people incorrectly refer to Lorne as “Lauren”. (Justin Bieber being one of those people, in the caption of a photo he posted on social media of himself and Lorne the week he hosted SNL.)
— The usual good Pete commentary, and nice involvement from his mom at the end, further establishing her relationship with SNL.
STARS: ****


GAME OF THRONES
Jon Snow’s (PED) revival is protracted & telegraphed

— I’ve never watched Game of Thrones, and thus, I’m not familiar with the character that Taran’s playing, but I really like the vocal mannerisms Taran’s using here.
— Meh, I’m not crazy about the premise of Brie and Cecily’s characters being audience surrogates pointing out the annoying slow pacing of Game of Thrones’ scenes.
— Kenan’s delivery of “Whaaaaaat???” made me laugh.
— Kenan got another good laugh from me just now, with his angry, sorta-staccato delivery of “PICK UP…THE PACE…WOMAN!!!”
— Blah at that ending.
STARS: **


QUIZ WHIZ 2018
contestants in the future (TAK) & (host) have forgotten about Ted Cruz

— Third consecutive episode with a game show sketch.
— I’m always interested in premises that take place in the future.
— More and more as this sketch goes on, I’m loving it. A clever concept, and the performances are on-point.
— Kenan’s delivery continues to kill in tonight’s episode, as his lines on the other end of the phone are cracking me up.
— Great reveal of Brie’s character being Ted Cruz’s wife, which is presumably SNL’s way of acknowledging the resemblance that a lot of people online pointed out that Ted Cruz’s wife and Brie have to each other.
STARS: ****


KICKSTARTER
Chris Fitzpatrick & bandmates (BEB) & (host) are crowdfunding a movie

— An interesting change of pace for Kyle’s Chris Fitzpatrick shorts (the second of which [from the preceding season’s Cameron Diaz episode] I now feel I underrated in my review).
— Wow, I absolutely love the voice Beck’s using here. It sounds nothing like his normal voice, and I’ve never heard him use that voice any other time besides this short.
— These Chris Fitzpatrick shorts continue to be spot-on at capturing the spirit of “edgy” teens.
— A very funny clip of Brie’s character awkwardly shoehorning a fan’s name into her personalized rap.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Hallelujah”


DEAD BOPZ
album features dead singers’ holograms doing modern-day songs

 

— Odd how the final two comedy segments of tonight’s episode (the Chris Fitzpatrick short and this commercial) are pre-taped.
— Solid performance from Beck as the spokesperson, a hologram Bing Crosby.
— Good concept to this commercial.
— A funny little bit with Beck-as-Crosby’s failed attempt to grab the Dead Bopz CD because he’s a hologram.
— Sasheer gets even more airtime tonight, with her good Eartha Kitt scene here.
— Brie is coming off really well in her scene here.
— A particularly funny scene of Jay as Tupac singing “Shake It Off”.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A good episode, even if it had kind of an unassuming, not very memorable feel to me (maybe because of the host, Brie Larson, though that’s not a knock on her, as she did absolutely fine).


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Baby Shower
Quiz Whiz 2018
President Barbie
Kickstarter
Weekend Update
Church Chat
Dead Bopz
Monologue
Near-Death Experience
Game of Thrones


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Julia Louis-Dreyfus)
a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Drake

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January 9, 2010 – Charles Barkley / Alicia Keys (S35 E11)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE SITUATION ROOM WITH WOLF BLITZER
Yemeni President Saleh (FRA) is an uncertain USA ally

— Not caring for this at all so far. It doesn’t help that Fred’s general foreigner routine is so tired to me by this point.
— I do at least like Bill’s goofiness when he’s joining in on Fred’s mockery of Will.
STARS: *½


MONOLOGUE
host sizes up audience members & requests KET do his impression of him

— As expected, Charles Barkley is getting lots of laughs just being his usual deadpan, monotone, blunt self.
— Funny brief involvement of Lorne.
— Very funny comment from Charles, saying the ratio of black people to white people who hosted SNL the preceding season is equal to that who saw the movie It’s Complicated.
— A good laugh from Charles calling one audience member (SNL writer Jessi Klein) “pretty in a kind of Jewish way” and “a freaky white girl”.
— I love how loose the format of this monologue feels. Perfect for Charles Barkley’s style.
— Charles, when wrapping up the monologue: “We got a great show tonight. Some of it is great, some of it we’re gonna do anyway.” Gotta love that trademark Charles Barkley honesty.
STARS: ****


THOMAS PEEPERS INSURANCE
attentive agents will look through your windows

— Very funny part with Bill’s spokesperson character suddenly going from speaking to the camera in a professional manner to suddenly running away and swearing when he hears something nearby.
— Strong conceit to this commercial, and a very solid use of Bill.
— Funny suggestive-looking shot of the reflection of Kristen unclogging a drain in front of Bill looking through the window right in front of her.
STARS: ****


REEL QUOTES
game show contestants (host) & (KRW) bungle movie dialogue

— A laugh from Kristen’s first long-winded wrong answer.
— The “You can’t handle my privates” bit is absolutely hilarious.
— All of Charles’ wrong answers and bizarre reasoning are very funny.
— Ugh, the running gag with Kristen’s long-winded answers has gotten really old. I’d love this sketch much more if it focused on just Bill and Charles’ characters.
— Charles’ explanation of what his Blockbuster job is was stupid enough to work.
— I love the speed round part.
— Bill genuinely fails in his attempt to angrily tear up the index card. I remember how this, along with some other things around this time, made some online SNL fans speculate if something was wrong with Bill’s health.
— I like the awkwardness of Bill and Charles just standing there waiting for the buzzer after Bill’s character has given up on the show.
— Bill, during his sign-off: “Here’s lookin’ at you, kid.” Charles: “You shouldn’t be lookin’ at kids, Reg.”
— Overall, as bad as the Wiig portions of this sketch were, everything else about it was strong enough for me to give this a high rating.
STARS: ****


MACGRUBER
black employee Darrell (host) doesn’t appreciate MacGruber’s racist joke

— So many laughs from MacGruber telling Charles “black slang” versions of everything he’s saying to Vicky.
— The horrible racist punchline of MacGruber’s joke, and how the very end of it gets cut off by the obligatory end-of-MacGruber-short explosion, is probably one of the hardest I’ve ever laughed at a MacGruber short, which is certainly saying something.
STARS: *****


SKI RETREAT
at a ski lodge, Shana alternately entices & repulses her male co-workers

— This sketch has officially become recurring.
— Odd coincidence: the first two Shana sketches have been performed with hosts who are hosting for the first time since way back in season 19 (John Malkovich, Charles Barkley). When I noticed this coincidence back when this episode originally aired, I remember jokingly speculating that the next Shana sketch would be when another hasn’t-hosted-since-season-19 male celebrity hosts, but I couldn’t come up with many haven’t-hosted-since-season-19 male celebrities who were still relevant enough to host in 2010. I think Patrick Stewart was the only one I could come up with. The streak of SNL only doing Shana sketches with season 19 hosts would end up being broken anyway, as the only remaining Shana sketches after tonight’s episode are done with hosts Bryan Cranston and Ben Stiller.
— Jenny has taken over the “ignored girl” role that Casey Wilson played in the first installment of this sketch. Much like both the Hoda Kotb and Janice (from the Muppets) roles, this “ignored girl” role seems to be yet another “cursed” role in this SNL era, as Jenny would end up suffering the same fate Casey suffered, in that she would get fired before the next Shana sketch appears. Abby would eventually break this curse, as she plays the “ignored girl” role in the next two Shana sketches.
— This reprisal isn’t working quite as well for me as the original installment of this sketch did, and this sketch has some really unfortunate habits that are way too prevalent in this SNL era (e.g. showing off Kristen Wiig, the camera doing constant cutaways to weirded-out facial reactions of straight man characters, a lowly female featured player playing a neglected character), but Kristen’s still managing to make this character work for me, and I certainly find this character more tolerable than some of Kristen’s other recurring characters around this time.
STARS: ***


MACGRUBER
racial sensitivity class hasn’t fixed relations with Darrell

— I think this is the first and only time Vicky has been included in a MacGruber opening title sequence.
— Very strong premise of MacGruber allegedly being reformed after taking racial sensitivity classes.
— Classic part with MacGruber spraying Charles with mace when Charles was simply going to hand MacGruber the pen that MacGruber asked him for.
— Great ending.
STARS: *****


INSIDE THE NBA
Danny Hoover’s incongruous play-by-play perturbs host

— Continuing season 35’s annoying trend of randomly bringing back a one-off sketch from a previous season that had no business becoming recurring, we get the return of this perfectly fine one-off sketch from years earlier in season 32.
— So far, this is following the exact same pattern as the first installment of this sketch, and, as expected, it’s not working quite as well for me this time. I also feel that “Nothing but the bottom of the net” doesn’t have the same memorable ring as “That’ll move the chains”.
— The “Thunder Dan is en fuego!” bit is pretty funny, especially Charles’ reaction.
— Ha, we actually get a direct callback to the aforementioned “That’ll move the chains” catchphrase from the first installment.
— I love Charles angrily calling Andy a “world class baloney head”.
— Meh, even the ending of this sketch is a weak knock-off of the first installment’s ending, only with Automatic Dying Disease (ADD) being replaced with Overwhelming Corpse Disease (OCD). Still the same basic joke.
STARS: **½


MACGRUBER
MacGruber’s African pilgrimage failed to curb his racism

— Hilarious visual of MacGruber wearing African clothing.
— Very funny ending with MacGruber spraying Charles with mace AGAIN during the sentimental sequence with Charles going in for a handshake.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart”


WEEKEND UPDATE
James Carville (BIH) downplays terrorism threat posed by Underwear Bomber

new United Nations ambassador Nicolas Cage (ANS) thinks he’s in a movie

David Paterson (FRA) sustains critical tone of State Of The State Address

— Good to see the return of Bill’s James Carville impression.
— Hilarious fat lady/grasping-for-straws analogy Bill’s Carville makes.
— Blah, this Nicolas Cage commentary isn’t working for me. The whole conceit with him repeatedly acting like he’s in an action/thriller scene in a movie is too repetitive and corny for my likes.
— Love the comical Update photo of new Harlem Globetrotters, as the photo is a who’s who of then-current SNL writers (the fourth-to-last above screencap for this Weekend Update).
— We haven’t seen Fred’s David Paterson all season until now. Unlike some people, I actually liked his previous Paterson commentaries from the preceding season, but, knowing how badly Fred has been doing this season, I’m iffy on how tonight’s Paterson commentary will turn out.
— I like Fred-as-Paterson’s line about how Jersey Shore is New Jersey’s equivalent to The McLaughlin Group.
— Not a bad overall commentary from Fred’s Paterson.
STARS: ***


THE HANEY PROJECT
host’s awful mechanics extend beyond golf swing

— I believe it’s been said that this is the only sketch that Hannibal Burress got on the air during his sole season as a writer.
— The real-life clips of Charles’ awful golf-swinging technique are good for a laugh. I also like Jason describing that technique as it being like Charles had a heart attack mid-swing but miraculously recovered.
— Though an obvious joke, the clips of Charles doing everyday routines in the same awkwardly-stopping-short-then-continuing manner as his golf-swing technique are providing pretty good amusement.
— The wedding cake clip is particularly funny.
STARS: ***½


BOOTY CALL
musical guest inexplicably wants to bed nerdy Lionel (ANS)

— A typical goofy Andy Samberg character, but it’s certainly cracking me up. Even just the mere look of his character is keeping me amused.
— I laughed out loud at Andy’s “Oh, you mean over the diaper?” line when Alicia Keys asks him what he’s wearing.
— Hilarious reveal of Andy being at an intervention that’s held for Bobby. I also love the pissed-off, haggard look on a silent Bobby’s face. Even the little detail of Abby looking at Bobby in an emotional, teary manner (the last above screencap for this short) is somehow adding to my amusement.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Empire State Of Mind (Part II) Broken Down”


SCARED STRAIGHT
tales of Lorenzo McIntosh & dad (host) don’t frighten trespassing teens

— When Lorenzo McIntosh guesses the juvenile delinquents have gotten busted for cannibalism and Charles tells him “That’s a good guess”, I love Jason responding “What, are you kidding? That’s a horrible guess.”
— Ha, I have no idea why Charles has suddenly started laughing out of character while speaking right now (the first above screencap for this sketch), but it’s making me laugh, too. There’s something strangely infectious about his breaking.
— As always, it’s fun to guess which movie Lorenzo McIntosh is referencing.
— Also as always, I’m getting lots of guilty laughs from all of the crude prison rape jokes.
— The “Body fluids!” bit during the Matrix gag made me laugh out loud.
— I like Kenan, in his latest attempt to get the obligatory laugh out of Bill during Kenan and the host’s ganging up on him, giving Bill a Wet Willy, made even funnier by Jason eagerly saying an off-camera “Do it!”
— The prison rape jokes during the Jerry Maguire bit are particularly hilarious. This sketch in general has got to be one of the funnier Scared Straight installments.
— For once, they didn’t do usual ending where, after Lorenzo McIntosh and his partner leave, one of the juvenile delinquents points out the window and asks “Hey, are they (insert bad thing here)?” and Jason looks out the window and then happily responds “Nah, they’re just (insert even worse thing here).”
— An odd theme I’ve noticed in the post-Weekend Update half of this episode: this is the third consecutive comedy segment to end with someone saying an angry “Dammit!” or “Damn!” Charles said it at the end of the Haney Project sketch when he couldn’t get the door open, Alicia Keys said it at the end of the Digital Short when Andy canceled their booty call, and Jason said it at the end of this sketch when the delinquents admitted they didn’t learn their lesson.
STARS: ****


BARKLEY’S BANK
host’s financial plan for your money is double or nothing

— Funny premise of Charles owning a bank and admitting he will either double your money or lose it all.
— I got such a big laugh from such a little Christopher Walken-esque detail of Charles delivering the word “motto” in an odd manner, stiffly pronouncing it as two separate words in an emphasized manner with a very hard “t”.
— After Charles shows the “You win some, you lose some” motto on the wall, SNL suddenly cuts to an SNL bumper photo of Charles (the even odder thing about that is that the cutaway to the bumper is done as a hard cut instead of the usual crossfade) while a now-un-mic’ed Charles can faintly be heard still speaking, then SNL suddenly goes to a commercial break. The show has obviously run long and they had to cut this sketch off halfway through. The full dress rehearsal version of this sketch would be shown in reruns (I can’t remember what, if anything, was removed in that rerun version to allow the full version of this Barkley’s Bank sketch to fit into the show, but I would guess it was the Thomas Peepers Insurance commercial), and it features a second testimonial from another married couple, played by Andy and Abby. If this portion of the sketch hadn’t got cut from the live show at the last minute, it would’ve been Abby’s ONLY live appearance of the night. Just her luck that her ONE scheduled live appearance of the episode, buried all the way at the end of the show, ended up getting cut at the last minute due to the show running long.
STARS: N/A (too much of the sketch got cut off for me to rate fairly)


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A solid episode, and deserves its reputation as one of the better episodes of this not-very-well-liked season. Most of the episode had a consistently good quality, and there were a few standout memorable pieces (the MacGruber shorts and the Barkley portions of the Reel Quotes sketch). Charles Barkley was a fun host in a strange way. To make another Christopher Walken comparison, Charles has a bit of a Walken-like quality as a host, in that something about his natural oddness and stiff, monotone manner inherently makes the material he’s performing funnier.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
MacGruber 1-2 (tie)
MacGruber 3
Monologue
Reel Quotes
Thomas Peepers Insurance
Scared Straight
Booty Call
The Haney Project
Weekend Update
Ski Retreat
Inside The NBA
The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (James Franco)
a big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Former one-time host Sigourney Weaver makes her return 24 years(!) after hosting the inaugural episode of the Phil Hartman/Dana Carvey/Jan Hooks era

Posted on

September 29, 2001 – Reese Witherspoon / Alicia Keys (S27 E1)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

9/11 TRIBUTE
in the wake of terrorism, Rudolph Giuliani [real] encourages perseverance

Paul Simon [real] performs “The Boxer” amidst NYC police & firemen

— Well, here we go, folks. A very important piece of SNL history.
— When this episode originally aired, I remember it felt very odd and jarring to see an SNL season begin in such a serious, dour manner, but I fully understood how necessary and crucial it was for SNL to immediately address the then-recent 9/11 in such a manner.
— Very inspiring words from Rudy Giuliani here.
— A great choice to have an unannounced Paul Simon performance during this cold opening. I recall there being confusion among online SNL fans at the time over what Paul’s song “The Boxer” has to do with 9/11, but I can see the connection, and this performance is beautiful, made even moreso by the occasional pan shots of the NYC firemen and police.
— Lorne: “Can we be funny?” Rudy: “Why start now?” That legendary exchange was not only the ice-breaking laugh that SNL needed during these trying times, but it was the ice-breaking laugh that New York and the nation as a whole needed, and let people know that things are going to be okay.
— Probably the most meaningful delivery of “Live from New York…” in SNL history. Great enthusiasm from both Rudy and the audience during it. Speaking of which, reruns of this cold opening oddly re-dub the “it’s Saturday Night” portion of Rudy’s LFNY with a more monotone-sounding utterance from him. I cannot for the life of me figure out why SNL would do that.
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)


OPENING MONTAGE
— Same montage from the preceding season.
— A shot from the preceding season’s montage of the New York City skyline with the World Trade Center visible (the first screencap below) has been digitally altered to remove the two towers (the second screencap below).

— A new shot has been added early in the montage showing an American flag (screencap below).

— Rachel Dratch, Tina Fey, and Maya Rudolph have all been promoted from featured players to repertory players.
— When the shot of the newly-promoted Tina Fey comes up after Will Ferrell’s shot, Don Pardo accidentally announces Tina as “Ana Gasteyer”, apparently being so accustomed to always announcing Ana’s name immediately after Will’s for the last 5 years. When the shot of Tina is then followed by Ana’s shot, Don attempts to cover for his flub by announcing Ana as “Ana Gasteyer with Tina Fey”.
— Speaking of Ana Gasteyer, the shot of her from the preceding season’s opening montage (the first screencap below) has now been changed to a new shot (the second screencap below).

— Boy, it feels sad seeing Chris Parnell removed from the opening montage.
— Dean Edwards, Seth Meyers, Amy Poehler, and Jeff Richards have all been added to the cast tonight.


MONOLOGUE
host tells a joke about a polar bear cub’s identity crisis

 

— I remember an SNL reviewer back at this time saying Reese Witherspoon had such an “I have to follow THAT?!?” look on her face early on in this monologue. Yeah, I can see that on her face. I feel for her.
— A good opening message from Reese about how they’ll (her and SNL) be giving it their all tonight, despite the circumstances.
— Hoo, boy. That “because I’m freezing my balls off” punchline was… well, not worth such a long, long set-up. Even Reese herself seems to agree, judging from her facial expressions afterwards. Reportedly, the punchline to Reese’s joke was originally going to be an uncensored “because I’m fucking freezing”, as SNL’s brave attempt to show that New York is back up and running. Lorne had planned in advance to pay the FCC fines and everything, but Reese put the kibosh on the whole idea, because she didn’t feel comfortable with saying the f-word on live TV, knowing how many young fans she had. I’m not 100% sure if any of that story is true, but if it is, that would explain the lame “because I’m freezing my balls off” punchline we were left with.
STARS: **½ (I’m being somewhat kind)


PREPARATION H
skateboarders sell hemorrhoid relief to youth culture

— Much like I said about Maya’s debut when I reviewed her very first episode, it feels so odd seeing Seth Meyers at this point of my SNL project, and lets me know that I’m slowly getting closer and closer to SNL’s modern-day era. And, man, Seth looks so young here.
— A good way to get all of the new male featured players in this youth-oriented commercial spoof.
— A fairly good comically out-of-place product to aim at early 2000s youth culture, and the visual style of this is a spot-on spoof of “x-treme” youth-oriented ads from this era, also reminding me of the visual style of another SNL spoof of “x-treme” youth-oriented ads: season 24’s KCF Shredders, which also heavily showcased THAT season’s new featured players: Jimmy, Horatio, and… (*sniffle*) Chris Parnell.
— Jesus Christ, did we need to see Kattan’s bare butt? Sure it was blurred out, but even through the blurring, we could still see WAY more of Kattan’s asscrack than I ever needed to see.
STARS: ***


WAKE UP WAKEFIELD!
Randy Goldman’s (JIF) girlfriend (host) is a guest

— Hmm, interesting how the lead-off sketch of the season stars two newly-promoted former featured players, showing how much confidence SNL has in Maya and Rachel.
— Amy Poehler makes her very first SNL appearance in a silent, almost indistinguishable role as one of several students making goofy faces in the viewer window (she’s the one sticking out her tongue in the fourth above screencap for this sketch), which ends up being Amy’s ONLY appearance all night. Yeesh. After so much online hype behind Amy’s hiring that summer, I recall this poor usage of her in tonight’s season premiere causing concern among some online SNL fans, worried that this was a sign that Amy’s SNL tenure would turn out to be comparable to that of Mark McKinney, who, like Amy, joined SNL as an already-established and revered sketch comedy veteran, and would sadly end up having his talent largely underused and squandered by SNL. Funny to think back in retrospect on this concern from SNL fans, considering the direction we now know that Amy’s SNL tenure would end up going.
— Geez, for the second segment in a row tonight, we get a guy showing part of his bare buttcrack to the camera, only this time, it’s NOT blurred out. Are all of these buttcrack flashes tonight another attempt from SNL to show that New York is back up and running? What’s more, I believe that’s newbie Jeff Richards who’s uncensored buttcrack we’re seeing in this sketch. If that’s indeed him, this has got to be one of the more… uh, unique ways for a cast member to make their live debut on SNL.
— As usual, I’m getting a kick out of Horatio’s teacher character, especially his corny delivery of “Don’t be a playa-hata. Be an inter-mural sports participata!”
— A funny and memorable part with Maya’s Megan passionately breaking out into a portion of the song “Truly Madly Deeply” in front of the viewer window that Jimmy’s Randy Goldman and Reese’s character are making out on the other side of.
STARS: ***½


THE LITTLE MERMAID
(WIF) is put off by Ariel’s (host) fish genitalia

— Seeing Will at the beginning of this sketch just gave me a sad reminder that this is his final season, which is even sadder when you’re aware in retrospect how much SNL ends up struggling without him the first few seasons after his departure.
— For some reason, I kinda like hearing the awkward light audience laughter during the some portions of Reese and Will’s non-comedic singing early on.
— Pretty funny turn with Reese’s Little Mermaid singing about the “increased flow of mucous in my fish genitalia”, throwing Will for a loop.
— When talking about how her legs turn human once she’s on land, I got a good laugh from Reese’s “But believe you me, the hoo-hah is all mackerel!” Something about that line sounds very Tina Fey-esque to me, which makes me wonder if she wrote this sketch, though I think I automatically assume that ALL vagina jokes from this SNL era are from Tina, knowing her comedic style and her various vagina euphemisms used throughout her Weekend Update tenure.
— Another instance tonight of all the new male featured players being paired together, this time as yellow-faced singing fish superimposed onto the screen. Stuff like this made it kinda hard for me (and many other online SNL fans at the time) to tell the difference between Seth Meyers and Jeff Richards back when this episode originally aired.
— A pretty funny and endearing visual of Rachel happily dancing around in a silly crab costume.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Fallin'”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Jesse Jackson (DAH) explains circumstances of proposed Taliban meeting

TIF & JIF lend drama to Maine’s decision to extend moose-hunting season

TIF encourages viewers to call 877-870-4278 & donate to Twin Towers Fund

— Surprisingly, they’re still using Chris Parnell’s old voice-over intro for Weekend Update. That wouldn’t last too long this season, though.
— A new brief shot of Tina wearing glasses has been inserted into the Update title sequence (screencap below), which doesn’t fit the rest of the Update title sequence, as plenty of shots of Tina sans glasses still remain.

— After donning the same hairstyle for his first three seasons, we now have Jimmy’s first of what will be MANY questionable hairstyles for the remainder of his SNL tenure. His hairstyle tonight is particularly tragic.
— Feels kinda sad seeing Darrell’s Jesse Jackson impression without Jerry Minor’s Al Sharpton by his side anymore, even though I’m certainly aware that Darrell previously did plenty of solo Jesse Jackson commentaries on Update years before Jerry even joined the cast. Jerry’s Sharpton added a fun change of pace to these, though.
— A lot of laughs from Darrell-as-Jackson’s detailing of the Taliban contacting him by phone.
— Darrell-as-Jackson’s “Come, Mr. Taliban, tally me banana” bit is hilarious.
— Tina’s IMMEDIATELY apologetic reaction after doing a mean-spirited joke about Janet Reno shows a huge difference between her and Norm Macdonald’s Update approach, as Norm did this same type of mean-spirited joke about Janet Reno on a regular basis during his Update days, and he never so much as batted an eye afterwards.
— Right when he’s supposed to do the next joke, Jimmy actually STOPS Update to a halt just to make several ad-libs about how terrible his hair looks as he glances at himself in the monitor and plays with his hair. I wonder if it’s moments like this that people who can’t stand Jimmy Fallon point to as an example of why he supposedly was a lousy cast member. (I’m not saying I agree, though I certainly have my own gripes with some of Jimmy’s habits on SNL.)
— The random moose-hunting conversation between Jimmy and Tina is a good, fun bit, like Jimmy and Tina’s side segments usually are. I also like how they end this one by saying “Aaaaaaaand scene” in unison.
— Jimmy and Tina end tonight’s Update on a classy note by letting us know how to reach the Twin Towers Fund if we’d like to help in the New York relief effort.
— Overall, considering the always-topical Weekend Update must’ve been one of the most difficult portions of the show for SNL to handle in this first post-9/11 episode, they handled it well and did a fine job.
STARS: ***½


COMMITMENT MEDLEY
Marty & Bobbi perform a medley at a lesbian commitment ceremony

— Feels pretty nice to see the always-reliable Culps during trying times like this.
— I’m getting some laughs from Marty and Bobbi Mohan-Culps’ details of their own bi-curious experiences from the past.
— As usual, a fun song medley from the Culps tonight. I particularly like their lesbian-related variation of “Mr. Roboto”.
STARS: ***½


CELEBRITY JEOPARDY
Chris Tucker (DEE), Anne Heche (host), Sean Connery (DAH)

— What’s going on tonight? The fairly-new and not-yet-established recurring sketch Wake Up Wakefield gets to lead off tonight’s season premiere, but actual established and long-time popular recurring sketches like The Culps and Celebrity Jeopardy get buried after Update??? Perhaps this is an early sign of a changing of the guard at SNL this season. After all, this DOES end up being Will and Ana’s final season.
— Dean Edwards gets his very first big role. It shows quite a lot of confidence on SNL’s part to let a newbie on his first night play a contestant in the prestigious Celebrity Jeopardy recurring sketch.
— A pretty good laugh from Reese’s Anne Heche delivering her intro statement in made-up space language.
— A decent Chris Tucker impression from Dean, though the material he’s been given in this sketch is pretty one-note and nothing special. By the way, word has it that Jerry Minor, the cast member who’s spot Dean has been hired to basically fill in, also had a Chris Tucker impression in his back pocket, but I’ve never seen it (and he certainly never did it on SNL).
— And there’s our obligatory classic category mix-up of tonight’s Celebrity Jeopardy sketch, with Darrell’s Connery misreading “horsemen” as “whore semen”. It’s quite a stretch for me to refer that particular mix-up as “classic”, though. I recall some online SNL fans at the time saying it was kinda sad and desperate on SNL’s part that Darrell’s Connery actually had to resort to WALKING UP TO THE BOARD and POINTING OUT where he saw “hor” and “semen” in the word “horsemen”. Unfortunately, I have to agree about how sad and desperate that came off, even if I still got some chuckles from it.
— A funny list shown of people that Anne Heche has slept with (the fourth-to-last above screencap for this sketch, though the visual quality makes it hard to read). It’s noteworthy that Chris Kattan is one of the people on that list. An also somewhat noteworthy entry on that list is “The Cream Of Wheat Guy”, which brings to mind that Pervert short film that the recently-departed Adam McKay did the preceding season. I’d like to think that SNL is subtly referencing that here, but that might be a stretch. It’s probably just inherently comedic to reference “The Cream Of Wheat Guy” in certain contexts, especially sexual ones.
— The surprising display of camaraderie between Trebek and Connery right now is an interesting change, even when you KNOW that Connery is just setting Trebek up.
— Overall… (*sigh*) I hate to say it, but it’s finally happened, folks: an average Celebrity Jeopardy sketch. This installment, while still funny, paled BADLY in comparison to the preceding Celebrity Jeopardy sketches. This installment felt lacking in parts, kinda empty, and was overall unmemorable. It’s understandable, given the difficulties the writers faced this week, but I wish they waited until a better week a little later into this season to do a Celebrity Jeopardy sketch.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “A Woman’s Worth”


GASSY BABY
newborn baby’s nonstop farts & burps distress parents (WIF) & (host)

— Oh, no. I recall this being a fairly notorious sketch from this season.
— Yep, and there it goes: the endless farting from the baby has officially begun. (*sigh*)
— It’s a bad sign when the audience has ALREADY stopped laughing at the non-stop farts only 30 seconds into the sketch. And this sketch is supposed to go on for God knows how many more minutes.
— And now we get the addition of endless burping to accompany the baby’s endless farting, as if that’s going to make this any funnier. (*sighs deeper*)
— Kattan’s appearance as the doctor is the first sketch tonight that I’ve noticed the lack of Chris Parnell (not counting the opening montage). This seems like the exact type of role Parnell would’ve been cast in had he still been on the show.
— And now the baby’s endless farting and burping is accompanied by endless projectile peeing. (*sighs even deeper*) Look, I’ve been cutting the writers some much-needed slack throughout this episode review, understanding what a difficult time they must’ve had this week, but geez, they’re putting something like THIS on the air? Really? I recall lots of SNL reviewers at the time saying this sketch was akin to a typical bad, juvenile sketch from season 20, though I’d like to think that even season 20 would scoff at this sketch, though that may be giving that season too much credit. Hell, if that season did this sketch, they’d probably have the baby projectile vomiting instead of farting, burping, or projectile peeing.
— It hurts seeing a reliable sketch-saving pro like Will failing to save this D.O.A. sketch. Only a truly bad sketch like this could make Will Ferrell look unfunny. I should probably be glad that Chris Parnell isn’t around to also get his talents wasted in this embarrassing sketch.
— Hmm, a very strange but somewhat interesting mid-sketch interlude with the coffee discussion between Will and Kattan, complete with wholesome background music being played. While this portion of the sketch is hard to figure and isn’t exactly making me laugh, I kinda appreciate what it’s going for, mostly just for giving us a (temporary) break from the unfunny juvenile humor of this sketch. I remember when this sketch originally aired, I felt that the dialogue in Will and Kattan’s coffee discussion seemed improvised, a hunch that would later be heightened when NBC would air the dress rehearsal version of this sketch in reruns, which contains different dialogue during Will and Kattan’s coffee discussion, IIRC (I haven’t seen the rerun version of this sketch in ages, so my recollection may be faulty).
— Tracy makes his first and only appearance of the night, and immediately provides my ONLY laughs of this entire sketch with his perfectly Tracy Morgan-esque reaction to the farting/burping/peeing baby.
STARS: *½


DONATELLA VERSACE FOR THE CHILDREN
Donatella Versace (MAR) & fashionistas sing kids songs

 

— The debut of Maya’s Donatella Versace impression, which would go on to be one of Maya’s signature roles on SNL.
— Maya continues to have the impressive ability to convincingly look like any given ethnicity she plays (Italian this time) via the simple use of a wig.
— Maya’s Versace voice sounds kinda different in this debut than how it would go on to regularly sound, but it could just be that it’s been a LONG time since I’ve last watched any of her Versace sketches.
— For a newbie in his first episode, Dean Edwards has actually been getting quite a lot of airtime tonight, which is particularly surprising in retrospect, knowing how EXTREMELY underused he would infamously go on to regularly be throughout his short-lived SNL tenure. (In fact, in the very next episode, he doesn’t make ANY appearances, which already lets us know what to expect from his SNL tenure.) It’s funny how tonight’s episode makes it seem like, out of the four newbies, Dean is going to be the most prominent face while Amy’s going to be extremely under-utilized and treated like a glorified extra, only for things to turn out THE EXACT OPPOSITE between Dean and Amy.
— There goes the first yell of “GET OOOOUUUUTT!”, which would go on to the signature catchphrase of Maya’s Versace impression.
— Boy, this one guy in the audience has a very loud, noticeable cackling laugh (“Hhhhhhhaaa ha ha ha!”) being heard all throughout this sketch. His voice stands out over the rest of the audience so much that it sounds like he’s mic’ed.
— A fairly fun format to this sketch, but I dunno, I’m not finding myself laughing all that much, though Maya is performing well.
— Okay, I am getting some amusement out of the randomness of Versace’s conversation with “Mr. Pantyhose Leg”, a pantyhose sock puppet.
STARS: **½


SIDE NOTE: I like the unique touch of how the final bumper photo of Reese has a signed message written by her (screencap below), which would go on to become a tradition for the final bumper photo shown of hosts in this season’s episodes (with the Kirsten Dunst episode being the only exception, I believe).


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Hard to judge this episode on the same level of a normal episode, knowing the unprecedented circumstances and difficulties SNL was dealing with. I commend SNL for going out there and trying, and I’m satisfied with what we ended up with as a whole. It was far from a strong episode, in my opinion; in fact, there wasn’t a single segment I gave a rating over three-and-a-half stars to (though if I rated individual Weekend Update commentaries, Darrell Hammond’s Jesse Jackson commentary would get four stars), and the post-Weekend Update half was largely underwhelming. But again, under the difficult circumstances, SNL still tried, they still provided laughs, they provided an important cold opening for the ages, and overall, the finished product of their efforts was palatable. For all of these reasons, I’ll forgive even the biggest missteps of the night (*coughGassyBabycough*).


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (2000-01)
N/A, because, again, it’s hard to judge this episode on the same level of a normal episode


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Seann William Scott